


crowded (thoughts)

by down



Category: Magic Knight Rayearth
Genre: F/M, Post canon
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-06-08
Updated: 2013-06-08
Packaged: 2017-12-14 09:11:58
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,651
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/835200
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/down/pseuds/down
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p><em>Tokyo was so – It was noisy, vast; lit up, and full of motion, and mostly it was full of </em>people.</p>
            </blockquote>





	crowded (thoughts)

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Milieva](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Milieva/gifts).



> Milieva's birthday present~ which almost even stuck to what it was meant to be. Sort of. Um. (She saw it ON her birthday, too. It's just a little bit different here, my darling?) 
> 
> Vague innuendo and Clef being bewildered by Tokyo~ 
> 
> (Please forgive my eternal inability to title...)

oOo

Tokyo was so – 

It was noisy, vast; lit up, and full of motion, and mostly it was full of _people_. Clef had seen pictures, before he came. Even moving ones – the Knights had done their best to let them know what they were in for, all the people who had decided they wanted to see what this strange ‘Earth’ place was like. None of it had prepared him for the reality. 

It had taken several years to make sure being several centuries old and essentially created by magic wasn’t going to be – incompatible with Earth. And Ferio had been the first to visit, and after that trip there had been another three months of working out how, exactly, to get someone from Cephiro to Tokyo without their clothes staying behind. 

(In the end, the easiest way – and he still couldn’t believe it had taken them so long to realise it – was for the Knights to bring them clothing from Tokyo to wear, which apparently transferred without any problem. It was only items from Cephiro which seemed unable to pass between worlds. People could manage it by strength of will – it was somewhat harder to make a set of boots believe they wanted to visit another world.) 

Clef was the last to come – it was so hard to find time, and… he had been worried, to be honest, about being at such a distance from Cephiro. From his magic. 

Then he and Umi became… involved, or however one wanted to put it. Somehow that made it seem more important that he know where she came from. Cephiro was stable, and he was about five years overdue for a break – and so here he was, staring wide-eyed at the crowd about them, who were blinking their eyes and asking each other, confused, about the strange bright light just now. 

There were windows – vast windows, the entire wall before him made of glass – from which he could see buildings sprawling for miles, some hunkering down low and others rearing up into the sky. He had seen this exact view in the pictures Umi had brought with her, but the sheer scale of the city hit harder when it was there before him. 

But that was just a niggling thing compared to the shock of the crowd about them. This one room was filled, people walking in all directions, pointing out of the windows and chatting, nudging into each other – there were more people in this one room than lived in the entire Castle, these days. 

The only time Clef had been in a crowd this thick had been the final evacuation, standing and holding the shield open while people pushed past him, the final rush into the safety of the castle. Clef shuffled a half-step closer to Umi, remembering… but this crowd couldn’t be mistaken for that one. 

This crowd was full of excitement, amusement; it was lively, not panicking. 

“Clef?” Umi said, sharply enough that she was probably repeating herself, and her fingers were gripped his tightly. He squeezed her hand back, but couldn’t stop looking about. “Clef, come on, come back-“ 

“I’m here, Umi. I’m fine.” He murmured. “It’s just – so many people. It’s amazing! And terrifying, that too. But amazing.” 

“And you aren’t feeling bad, so far from Cephiro? It’s not-“ Umi started, and Clef did turn to blink at her at that, because not only had they tested the effect of the distance on mages, but Lantis had been here and stayed for three days, and suffered no ill effects. But Umi’s voice was tense enough that she really was worried. He smiled at her, reassuringly, before his attention was dragged back to the people moving past. 

“No. It’s a little… strange, perhaps. Quiet? It’s hard to tell.” 

“…If you’re certain?” 

Clef stared at her, then glanced at the other two Knights – who, he suddenly realised, had moved without his noticing so they were surrounding him, keeping a buffer between him and the other people. “You have gone very pale, Master Clef.” Fuu explained, quietly. “If you wished to return to Cephiro…” 

“No, no – I am perfectly fine, I assure you.” 

“Well, if you’re sure…” Umi eyed him, biting her lip, then nodded once. “Okay! Time to get out of here.” 

oOo

Getting out of the tower was – interesting. There were elevators on Autozam much like the one which brought them downwards here, but none of those had walls made of glass, and Clef had never really got used to the ones in Autozam anyway. There were people everywhere, and once they were outside Umi summoned one of the wheeled vehicles which were passing, and bustled him into it – he didn’t quite notice they were leaving Hikaru and Fuu behind until the door was shutting itself and they were moving along the road. 

He couldn’t tear his eyes away from the window – didn’t want to, either, soaking everything in. But he found himself leaning away from it at the same time, towards Umi. Plus, their fingers were still tangled together, hers warming his. 

The Castle would probably look less out of place here than it did in Cephiro, he thought, wryly. It was barely taller than some of these buildings, and there were so many styles and shapes crammed next to each other… 

(The entire population of his land would fit inside one of these buildings, and there were hundreds here. And this was only one city, out of thousands? He couldn’t begin to imagine how many people this place contained – and he was just one more tourist. At least he was not the only one staring up at the buildings in wonder, though the people he glimpsed from the window were being more selective in their staring than he was.) 

The ‘hotel’ where Umi had arranged for a room was another towering building, though not like Tokyo Tower itself – this was sensibly solid, and not painted a startling orange. Nor was it as tall. Though as soon as they were inside, he nearly itched with the unseen presence of the city about them. The Knights had said that Earth had no true magic, that they knew of. That might be right – he was not convinced, but it _might_ be - but there was an energy to this place anyway, one which thrummed through him, unnerving and addictive and nagging at his attention. 

Umi pulled him through another journey in one of those elevators, and let them into a room which was only a little less large than his room in the Castle – and the far wall was covered with draped curtains. 

He pulled away from her to walk across the room, and pull those curtains back. 

Glass, again – floor to ceiling. And Tokyo beyond, just as bizarre as it had been from the vehicle: none of the buildings were the right _shape_ , and there were just so _many_ of them, so very very large. 

But… there was something almost familiar about the view from here, which made it less unsettling, and it took him a moment to realise what. Then he had to laugh, and turn away, turn back to Umi where she was waiting nervously, just a little way into the room. 

“Did you deliberately find a place the same height as my rooms in Cephiro, or is that merely coincidence?” 

“I thought, if something about the view was similar to home-” Umi blushed, and looked down. “I know, it was a ridiculous idea…”

Clef let the curtain fall back, and crossed the room. “No, Umi. Thank you.” He said, and leant in to kiss her. 

This, too, was familiar – though still fairly new. New enough for him to be distracted by the soft noise she made, and for a few moments he forgot all about the strangeness all about them, focused on her - grounded. But it wasn’t long before she was drawing back, looking ruefully at the windows. 

“If we could have brought you through anywhere else – Tokyo is rather overwhelming, even for people from other parts of Japan, sometimes. But the Tower is the only place we know how to get through, and I didn’t think travelling a long way on the train or something as soon as we got here would be a good idea-“

Clef cut off the rambling with another kiss, mouth opening to hers, and he was very aware that there were _two_ cases of clothing sat waiting by the bed – the large bed. “This is where you come from.” He told her, voice a little rough. “This is the place I want to learn about – though I admit, it’s reassuring that we can close the curtains on it, in here.” 

“That’s what I thought! We can see half the city from here, and if you watch it for a little while it might get less strange – we don’t even have to leave the room if you don’t want to, and you’ll still be able to see a lot!” 

“Oh?” He tried not to grin, and probably failed miserably. “And how were you planning for us to spend our time, staying in here all week?” 

Umi flushed, biting her lip. “I’m sure we can think of something?” She said, half laughing, as she slid her arms about his waist. 

“We might have to go out sometimes.” Clef murmured, as she drew him slowly across to the bed. “I refuse to come to Tokyo and see literally nothing but the Tower and this room.” 

“Oh?” 

“Ferio would find out, and he wouldn’t let it go.” 

“…Probably true.” 

“So we’ll have to remember to go out on that last morning, I guess…” 

Umi laughed again, and pulled him down onto the bed. 

oOo

(They did go out, and more than just that final day – but they spent the first mostly wrapped in the duvet together, watching the city through the windows.) 

oOo

end

oOo


End file.
